Knock-down chests and the like



1966 J. z. BRANCIFORTE 3,268,284

KNOCK-DOWN GHESTS AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 25, 1964 INVENTOR, Joseph 2. Bmnciforrq ATTORNEY.

United States Patent M 3,268,284 KNOCK-DOWN CHESTS AND THE LIKE Joseph Z. Branciforte, 220 Henley Road,

Woodmere, N.Y. Filed Nov. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 413,074 4 Claims. (Cl. 312-263) The present invention relates to chests which are shipped knocked down. One of its uses is for holding childrens toys in their playroom.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved knocked down chest which is easily assembled without the use of tools or nails, screws and the like. In erected condition, the chest is sturdy because in the construction taught herein, its upright and bottom walls are locked to maintain their assembly.

A further object thereof is to provide a novel and improved chest structure of the character described, which is reiasontably chleaphtohmanufacture, offers novel locking cons ruc ion an w ic is effici for which it is designed. em to Serve the Purposes Other objects and advanta this disclosure proceeds.

For one practice of this inv the chest are in dove ges will become apparent as ention, the upright walls of -ta1l engagement along the vertical. Along the bottom, on the inner faces of the front and rear walls, there are dove-tail grooves to engage ton ues at the ends of floor wall supporting slats. The botto in wall is a panel which fits between the front and rear walls and has its side ends entered into horizontal slots in the respective s de walls, into which slots there snugly fits one of the said supporting slats respectively. This locks all the walls against relative movement. The chest has twin sliding door panels in tracks offered by horizontal grooves near the top of the front and rear walls. Each slidin door is provided with a knob on top and a stop elemerii on bottom which latter is a washer on the screw securin its associated knob. Each of said doors, slide on the to; edge of a side wall. In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views which are shown in perspectlve.

FIG. 1 shows an erected chest embodying the teachings of this invention.

FIG. 2 shows the chest in inverted position.

FIG. 3 shows the rear wall which is the same as the front wall.

FIG. 4 shows a side wall. Both side walls are identical.

FIG. 5 shows the bottom panel which serves as the floor of the chest.

FIG. 6 shows one of the slats which are used to port the bottom panel and two of them also serve as locking means.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view showing one of the slide doors, its knob, stop element and the screw which maintains their assembly. Both slide doors are the same.

FIG. 8 shows the joint structure at a corner of the chest. This is a fragmentary sectional view showing how a slat is used to lock the walls in position.

In the drawing, the preferred embodiment of this invention is the chest designated generally by the numeral 15, which consists of the identical front and rear wall panels 16, 16', the identical side walls 17, 17, a bottom panel 18, the identical supporting slats 19-19 and the identical slide doors 20, 20. Each of the up g Walls may be formed with feet as shown at 31. The dove-tail tongues 25 and 26 along the side edges of the side wall 17, are received in the vertical dove-tail grooves 21, 21' respectively, which are in the front and rear walls. The dove-tail tongues 25', 26' along the side edges of the side wall 17', are received in the vertical dove-tail grooves 22.,

sup-

the

3,268,284 Patented August 23, 1966 22 respectively which are in the front and rear walls. The dove-tail tongues 28 and 29 at the ends of the support slat 19, are received in the horizontal dove-tail grooves 23, 23 respectively, which are along the bottom edges of the front and rear walls. The slide door panels 20, 20 are received in the rectangular horizontal grooves 24, 24' respectively, which are along the top edges of the front and rear walls. The panel 18 which serves as the floor of the chest, fits between the front and rear walls, sits atop the support rails 19-19 and has its ends within the rectangular horizontal grooves 27, 27' respectively which are along the bottom of the side walls. The slats 19, 19' fit snugly in the said grooves 27, 27' respectively, under the respective end margins of the floor panel 18 within said grooves 27, 27'. All grooves are on the inner surfaces of the upright panels. All grooves extend to and are open at the edges of said upright panels. The sides 17, 17' extend only up to the grooves 24, 24' so the slide doors 20, 20 respectively are in sliding contact with the top edges of said sides 17, 17'. Near the inner end of each slide door, there is a knob 30 on top and a stop element 32 on the bottom thereof, held in assembly 'by a screw 33 which engages the threaded hole 34 in said knob. Up from the bottom edge of each of the front and rear walls, at midsection, there is a branch groove 33 to admit the slats 19-19' to the grooves 23, 23'.

The chest reaches the customer, disassembled and compactly packed, with the knobs 30, 30', the perforated stop elements 32, 32' and their screws as 33, in a small envelope. One way to assemble the parts, is to first associate the side walls with the front and rear Walls so that all feet 31 rest on a surface. Then insert the thin floor panel 18 downwardly, buckling it a bit so its side ends enter into the grooves 27, 27' respectively. Now turn this partial assembly upside down and insert the slats downwardly through the clearances 33 and then shift two of them towards one side and the other two towards the other side of the chest. Force the slat 19 into the groove 27, force the slat 19' into the groove 27 and space the others. Now insert the slides 20, 20 and mount their knobs and stop elements. Merely turn the knob after entering the screw first through the stop element, then through the hole 34 and then into the knob. All the parts of the chest are locked in place, its slide doors are not separable therefrom and the bottom panel is amply supported.

Another way to assemble the chest is to assemble the slats with the front and rear walls. Then mount the side walls. Now after inserting the bottom panel, shift the slats 1Q, 19' into locking position and separate the slats 19", 19". For this, the clearances 33 may be omitted. Their presence however facilitates disassembly, should it ever be desired to take the chest apart.

The chest may be of any desired dimensions, made of wood or suitable composition board material. In some structures, only one slide door may be sufficient. Surface decoration may be applied to suit.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired that the embodiments described herein shall be deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being had to the following claims rather than to the specific description and showing herein, to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

-1. In a chest of the character described, two pairs of opposite panels positioned to constitute the front, side and rear walls thereof; one wall of each pair of adjacent Walls having a heightwise dove-tail groove on its inner surface and the other Wall having a dove-tail tongue on and along its side edge, slidably engaged in the groove;

one pair of opposite walls having opposite horizontal dove-tail grooves on the inner surfaces thereof, at least two slats; said slats having parallel dove-tail tongues on and along the ends thereof respectively; said tongues on the slats being slidably engaged in said horizontal dovetail grooves and a bottom wall resting on said slats; the other pair of opposite walls having opposite horizontal grooves on the inner surface thereof, into which opposite ends of the bottom wall extend respectively; said slats being respectively force-fitted into the said last-mentioned grooves having one of the ends of the bottom Wall therein; the Width of each of the grooves into which a locking slat is forced, being just sufiicient to tightly hold a slat and an end of the bottom wall therein whereby said bottom wall and all the other walls are locked in assembly and upon removal of said locking slats from the grooves they are forced into, all the walls are separable.

2. A chest as defined in claim 1, Wherein the pair of opposite walls having the horizontal dove-tail grooves which carry the slats, are provided with opposite grooves on their inner surfaces starting and open at their bottom edges respectively and extending as a bran-ch to said horizontal dove-tail grooves respectively; the width of said branches being each sufiicient to permit the entry and removal of a slat.

3. A chest as defined in claim 1, wherein one pair of opposite walls are taller than the other pair of opposite walls and are provided with opposite horizontal grooves on their inner surfaces, a sliding door panel in said last mentioned grooves, contacting the upper edge of one of the lower walls and a stop element on the underside of said door panel, positioned for interception by the inner surface of said one lower wall when said slide is in position whereby the chest is open.

4. A chest as defined in claim 3, wherein said stop element is a separate piece and has a hole therethrough; said sliding door panel being provided with a hole to register with that in said element; said door panel having a separate knob atop thereof; said knob having a threaded hole and a headed screw passed first through the hole in said element, then through the hole in said slide panel, engaged in said threaded hole in the knob and finally turned to tighten to maintainthe assembly of said element and the knob with said door panel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 231,434 8/1880 Maloney et a1 217-65 653,514 7/1900 Kasschau 217-12 1,468,786 9/1923 Knechtel 20'92.7

FOREIGN PATENTS 22,906 1893 Great Britain. 85,798 7/ 1920 Switzerland.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

F. DGMOTOR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A CHEST OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, TWO PAIRS OF OPPOSITE PANELS POSITIONED TO CONSTITUTE THE FRONT, SIDE AND REAR WALL THEREOF; ONE WALL OF EACH PAIR OF ADJACENT WALLS HAVING A HEIGHWISE DOVE-TAIL GROOVE ON ITS INNER SURFACE AND THE OTHER WALL HAVING A DOVE-TAIL TONGUE ON AND ALONG ITS SIDE EDGE, SLIDABLY ENGAGED IN THE GROOVE; ONE PAIR OF OPPOSITE WALLS HAVING OPPOSITE HORIZONTAL DOVE-TAIL GROOVES ON THE INNER SURFACES THEREOF, AT LEAST TWO SLATS; SAID SLATS THEREOF PARALLEL DOVE-TAIL TONGUES ON AND ALONG THE ENDS THEREOF RESPECTIVELY; SAID TONGUES ON THE SLATS BEING SLIDABLY ENGAGED IN SAID HORIZONTAL DOVETAIL GROOVES AND A BOTTOM WALL RESTING ON SAID SLATS; THE OTHER PAIR OF OPPOSITE WALLS HAVING OPPOSITE HORIZONTAL GROOVES ON THE INNER SURFACE THEREOF, INTO WHICH OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE BOTTOM WALL EXTEND RESPECTIVELY; SAID SLATS BEING RESPECTIVELY FORCE-FITTED INTO THE SAID LAST-MENTIONED GROOVES HAVING ONE OF THE ENDS OF THE BOTTOM WALL THEREIN; THE WIDTH OF EACH OF THE GROOVES INTO WHICH A LOCKING SLAT IS FORCED, BEING JUST SUFFICIENT TO TIGHTLY HOLD A SLAT AND AN END OF THE BOTTOM WALL THEREIN WHEREBY SAID BOTTOM WALL AND ALL THE OTHER WALLS ARE LOCKED IN ASSEMBLY AND UPON REMOVAL OF SAID LOCKING SLATS FROM THE GROOVES THEY ARE FORCED INTO, ALL THE WALLS ARE SEPARABLE. 